Tag Archive | "economics"
The anthropology of evil
The Judeo-Christian tradition approximately coincides with the birth of civilization: We got serious about agriculture some 6,000 years ago. I am not suggesting evil arose with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Only the most evil of structures, agriculture.
Continue reading...Change we can believe in
Sunday, November 30, 2008
All the wishful thinking in the country can't resurrect a long-dead corpse. By the time president-elect Obama takes the oath of office, he'll have all the power of a quadriplegic EMT without a medical kit, much less a resuscitation device. And he'll be staring at a patient with a DNR order, courtesy of a lethal combination of inevitable geology and abysmal policy.
Continue reading...Endgame for the world economy?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Cheap oil allowed the construction of suburbia. Cheap oil allowed us to use our houses as ATMs. Cheap oil allowed the banks to borrow money inexpensively and lend it slightly more expensively (but it was still cheap). Cheap oil allowed economic growth. Those days are behind us.
Continue reading...What I hope for
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Do I want to see it all come down? Personally, no. Like everybody else, I do not want to die young after suffering immensely. But I'm wise enough to see beyond myself, and empathetic enough to give a damn about other cultures and species, and even future generations of our own species.
Continue reading...Dodging the bullet
Sunday, September 21, 2008
For those of you not paying attention to the news last week, here's a quick summary: The United States economy nearly collapsed, taking the world economy with it. Only a quick infusion of cash by the Treasury Department prevented full-scale collapse. The problem: peak oil. The solution, such as it is: print money, sensu Weimer Republic. Ben "Helicopter" Bernanke is living up to his nickname.
Continue reading...Location, location, relocation
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The increasing urgency of this topic demands frank conversation, but the human ego is stunningly fragile. As a general strategy, I would not recommend starting the conversation about relocating with a group larger than half-a-dozen people, primarily because you'll need to create and maintain an emotionally, psychologically, and physically functional group of people, on short notice, to do things you cannot imagine doing. The future is funny that way: We don't even know what needs to be done.
Continue reading...Destroying demand
Monday, August 18, 2008
I underestimated the impact of high gasoline prices on our behavior. I thought $5 gas would be necessary to produce the type of impact we're seeing at only $4. Demand destruction is so severe it's overwhelming events in the former Soviet Union, where chess-master Putin is spoiling U.S. attempts to extract oil by going around Russia. Along the way, Putin has demonstrated exactly how impotent the U.S. has become on the world stage.
Continue reading...Saving the world: a transcript for your review
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Civilization represents a grave threat to the existence of myriad cultures and species, including our own species. And we can do better.
Continue reading...The jig is up
Monday, July 14, 2008
There simply is no way to prop up civilized society when oil costs more than $100 per barrel. Well, there might be one option: fascism. Oh, wait. We're already there.
Continue reading...WELL, then
Thursday, June 26, 2008
While we were away, the financial sector continued its downward spiral and the price of oil continued to climb, albeit with considerable volatility. During the next few months, I expect to see the stock markets continue their unwinding while supply disruptions in gasoline spread throughout the country (from the six states impacted last summer). By year's end, the Northeast's fragile electrical grid is likely to collapse. The price of heating oil already exceeds the price of electricity, and is likely to increase between now and November. The overwrought electrical grid will collapse when a small proportion of the sixty percent of homes heated with heating oil switch to space heaters.
Continue reading...
Monday, December 22, 2008
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